National Coalition to Promote Continuous Monitoring of Patients on Opioids

The Unique Goal

Unlike past initiatives in this space, the AAMI Foundation's goal is to establish the business case—demonstrating strong financial justification and improved patient outcomes—to educate and encourage hospitals to adopt continuous monitoring for all patients on parenteral opioids.

New Video—for Patients and their Families

The use of opioids for pain management has always carried risks, but several factors over the past decades have contributed to a rise in adverse events for in-hospital patients receiving opioids. Patients and their families need to be aware that continuous monitoring of patients on opioids can save lives.

Staging the approach: Hospitals may implement this vision by using a staged approach to address the necessary components, cited above, that are key to success, and by implementing continuous electronic monitoring for patients included under The Joint Commission’s Sentinel Event #49.

The work of the AAMI Foundation’s National Coalition to Promote Continuous Monitoring of Patients on Opioids is intended to be a helpful resource for healthcare delivery organizations, so that every organization does not have to reinvent the wheel or start their continuous monitoring implementation from scratch. It does not constitute legal, regulatory, operational, or procedural advice, nor does it constitute a standard of care. It is essential that each healthcare delivery organization assess the material in the context of its own organizational needs, culture, technology, and priorities.